Paavo Nurmi Games 2023: Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra aiming to better silver effort

Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will look to better his silver medal-winning effort in the Paavo Nurmi Games in Turku in Finland on June 13, which will be his third competition of the season. The 25-year-old Chopra had won gold in the first leg of the prestigious Diamond League series in Doha on May 5 in his season-opening event.

Before the Paavo Nurmi Games, he will participate in the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games at Hengelo, the Netherlands on June 4. German star Johannes Vetter, who famously failed to even qualify for the final round of the Tokyo Olympic Games after entering the quadrennial games as a hot favourite, will renew his rivalry with Chopra in nearly two years.

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The Paavo Nurmi Games is a World Athletics Continental Tour gold-level meet. Besides Vetter, Chopra will also compete against Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch, Keshorn Walcott of Trinidad and Tobago, European champion Julian Weber of Germany and European Championships bronze medallist Lassi Etelatolo of Finland in the event. A year ago in Turku, Chopra threw 89.30 metres to bag silver and later improved the distance to 89.94 metres to finish second in the World Championships in Eugene, United States of America (USA).

(With inputs from PTI)